NFL's Evans Offers Personal Testimony During Chapel Talk

Date:March 12, 2013

In his presentation to students at Palm Beach Atlantic University on Tuesday, former NFL player Heath Evans devoted little of his speaking time to his 10 seasons playing for the Seattle Seahawks, Miami Dolphins, New England Patriots and Super Bowl-winning New Orleans Saints.

Instead, Evans, now an analyst for the NFL Network, spoke openly about his path to becoming saved, which he says happened recently.

Until then, he led a life that outwardly resembled that of a believer, he said. “I was really good at fooling everybody, including myself. Over the last year, really about the last two years, God allowed me to explore the path of my heart, and He showed me a Heath I never wanted to think existed,” he said.

“Me without Jesus is an ugly, ugly person. The truth is, all of us without Jesus, we’re hideous.”

Evans, a Palm Beach County native and King’s Academy graduate, was the first of two guest speakers this week for the Health and Wellness department’s annual body management chapel series. Evans will speak again, this time to male students only, at 7 p.m. tonight in the DeSantis Family Chapel.

Wednesday’s speaker, actress Carol Anderson, will speak about eating disorders during the 11 a.m. chapel hour and again at a 7 p.m. chapel that will be limited female students only.

Evans spoke about what he called “ADD Christianity,” noting that he himself has been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder. “Any Christianity that has you at the center of it, it’s not Christianity,” he said.

He said the key to happiness is to become a “Christian hedonist,” or a person whose “pleasure in life is only bringing God pleasure, and then through that focus, you will be happy, peaceful and content.”

He also outlined John Piper’s IOUs, a prayer guide with several scriptural references to remind the faithful to Incline, Open, Unite and Satisfy.

Satisfaction can seem quite elusive, he said. He said he has played with some of the greatest players ever to strap on a football helmet, “and they’re all looking for that next ring, that next Lamborghini, that next jet, that next Bentley,” he said. “This world will never satisfy us, but yet God has promised He will satisfy us … humility is the only thing that will truly satisfy us.”

In addition to humility, Evans encouraged students practice honesty with those in their inner circle.

“If you can’t be honest with those around you, you probably can’t be honest with yourself,” he said, adding that men in particular tend to hide behind a masculine façade.

He also reminded students about the pitfalls of sexual immorality, as well as pride and arrogance.